this is it
Today marks my last day in London (for awhile at least) I will update with more details when I get back to the states, since I know I have not been good these past 2 days. Quick update, we've (MissyLou & I) done bugger all :) watched movies & been to the pub with Jim, Charlotte, Rob, Sohel, Shani, Andy and all the barstaff - I got free cheesecake & a free drink - they love me so & I WILL MISS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!
closer & closer
Had dinner with "cousin" Danielle last night at Cafe Espana on the corner of Old Compton Rd and Wardour St. Service was slow but friendly & the food was okay. Since D had to getup at 4am this morning, we left right after our meal. Dad & I walked her to her bus stop & then we headed back down to Leicester Square for a waffle sundae from Haagen Daz - YUMMERS!!!Just left dad at the KT tube station on his way to Heathrow, after double checking with Transport for London on the best way to get there & checking for any delays or closures, luckily only minor delays on the northern line & all else was clear as of 09.42. Now my place is really starting to look empty . . . I have 2 suitcases, a laptop, and my carry-on bag, clothes hanging up to dry, some food in the fridge, a can of salsa, 2 sets of sheets, & 2 pillows, that's all folks!!!!What's my plan from now until I leave you ask? Good question!! Je thinks, as "the newest American" (Dom) would say- Louise is coming up later to pick up all the food & her duvets
- Wash the 2 sets of sheets early today so we can use them tonight & tomorrow before throwing them into storage
- Lou & I are having our last Lebanese together (until I get back that is)
- Sohel, Lou, & I (possibly Sophie, Shani, and anyone else still in town) are all meeting up at the pub to say goodbye around 8pm
Tomorrow:
- Lunch with Katie B
- Possible dinner with Jim
Saturday:
- Throw the last of my stuff into suitcases, do a quick sweep of the floors
- Run the sheets & pillows over to storage
- Bugger off to Heathrow with MissyLou & Rob
- Fly into Heathrow around 18.40, get picked up by the rents & drive back to Newington, CT
Best get started on that washing or we'll be sleeping standing up tonight - LMAO!!!!!!!
Tarra for now :)
UPDATE at 10.40:
TOO much free time on my hands so now you can check out this or maybe you would prefer this one, and if neither of those work for you why not check out this one or how about this one?
ALMOST there
Today we met Julie at Farringdon for lunch at The Greenery (veggy place) on the corner of Cowcross St and Peter's Lane. After lunch we walked over through the Smithfield Meat market, past Old Baily (criminal court house), and then past St Paul's before jumping on the northern line to come home for the final move to storage.Dad & I moved the final bits & bobs into storage today, so literally all that is left to go into the unit are 2 sets of sheets & 2 pillows. Ugh what a pain in the arse it was fitting it all in, luckily we made it happen with lots of pushing, turning of boxes & repacking a box into a garbage bag.Ya know that point when you just want to be done! I don't like this waiting around till Saturday with basically nothing to do but eat out with friends, not that I don't like eating or seeing these people but in between there is a lot of down time where I feel I should be doing something useful, instead of reading or wondering up & down KT Road. PLUS not many of my mates are still around :( Amanda, Heather, Susan, and Dom are all either in the USA or on their way there (congrats again to Dom for getting that job at Madison). Louise is living with Jeremy now so I rarely see her & most days she goes into Imperial with him & sits on a computer looking for jobs. That leaves the girls at the pub (but like normal people so they can't entertain me all day long because they actually have to work), "cousin" Danielle (working), Emie & Julie (both working), Jim & Rob (both working). So that brings me back to wishing I could just jump on the next flight home so I can start seeing people there. To any AHS graduate of 1996 get a load of this:AHS Class of '96 Ten-Year Reunion Host: Class of '96 (Karessa McCartney, KM2)Location: The Fat Black Pussy Cat 130 West 3rd Street, New York, NY When: Wednesday, December 27, 7:00pm Calling all AHS class of 1996 alums . . . The Class of '96 needs you to make the 10-year reunion happen. At short notice the reunion has been planned, but we need you to spread the word far and wide. Come feel the Blue-n-Gold, feel that Panther spirit, feel the good times of ten years ago. Come party down with your AHS classmates amist bumpin' tunes, drinks and bar fare at the Fat Black Pussy Cat. Bring old friends and new to mix, mingle and reminisce. P.S. Please pass this along to all alums that you can. Thanks!Any of you planning on going, let me know!!Well I suppose I should attempt to go and do something productive, just not sure what the heck that is going to be. BTW Dad's having a nap (I know I know you're all VERY surprised by this - LMAO!!!!)
2-0
Arsenal v Porto :)
Went to see Patrick this afternoon as I told you earlier. From Patrick's we stopped at Leicester Square and got half price tickets to the musical
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers then had dinner at an Italian place in LS before we headed over to the Haymarket theatre.
Tomorrow should be another busy day with moving stuff into storage, having lunch with Julie L, and dinner with "cousin" Danielle, makes me tired just thinking about it!!!
Wednesday morning
So last night we met up with Jim & Charlotte at the Pitcher & Piano pub just a few door down from The WalkAbout (as I mentioned yesterday). We had cocktails there for £6 a pop before moving a few more doors down to what Jim, Rob & I call "The Braziliann place". Food was really good & we laughed through most of the meal telling stories about the past year, which really means Jim & I took the piss outta each other with Charlotte throwing in a few hysterical Jim stories from the past month & a half they've known each otherr. When dinner was done, we walked J&C to their bus stop (heading towards Finsbury Park) & then walked around the corner to get our bus back to KT.
My back is feeling much better today, I think that is about 90% due to the fact that my job in moving stuff to storage yesterday was to "watch" the trolley on the pavement, while Rob & Dad ran up & down the stairs with the boxes, then we walked it across the road, and again Rob put all the boxes into the storage unit.
Today we're off to visit Patrick for "tea". Now as I have learned in my year here, tea means sandwiches, cakes (sometimes some of those caramel-chocolate digestive cookies that I love so much) & tea - sorta like a light dinner, but dad is INSISTING we're just drinking tea . . . we'll see . . . maybe Patrick said he's only serving tea to drink and not to be a know-it-all but I've been to Patrick's twice this year for "tea" & it was what I described above, but we will see when we get there. So Dad is making (aka warming up)asparaguss soup, 1/2 a portion of shepherdss pie, and toasting muffins (what we in the states would call "English muffins" - have I already told you what we call muffins in the states they call "American muffins" over here - LOL)
As for always being right I'm 2 for 2 this week :) First was on Friday when we met up with Jim for drinks, Sally (barmaid at my local) said he would order a Magners & I said no he's on the Fosters at the mo, upon arrival he ordered a pint of Fosters :) Second was when Rob showed up Jos (another barmaid) thought he'd order a Guinness & I said he's off the beer so he'll have some sort of orange juice with soda water, which he did :)
In other interesting news, my mobile is back up & working, thank goodness, I felt naked without it!! I don't like the idea of being so dependent on it but with the way society is these days nobody makes plans they just say, "oh I'll call you when I'm done" or "text me when you get outta the tube" instead of "lets meet at 5pm at such and such a place", but what can ya do?!?!?!
Okay off to, hmm . . . what do I have left to do . . . oh yeah redistribute the weight between my two suitcases & start our journey to south London (Patrick lives in Stretham, about 1.5 hours from KT via tube & bus & a short walk)
Down to the wire
So today was a not exciting day in KT. I spent the first half of it stuck on hold on the phone with BT (phone & internet), EDF (electric), Thames Water (hopefully doesn't need explaining), Orange (mobile phone), and HSBC-UK (bank), trying to cancel services, change addresses or ask questions. Did my head in real fast since they just kept sayin, "would you mind holding for another minute" and some of them weren't 0800 numbers, they were 0845 which charges local rates!!
In fixing my mobile to work in the states, they had to shut it off for 24 hours, yet they neglected to tell me that when I made the switch so I'm feeling naked without my mobile!!
After that Dad & I went to get some lunch, buy some packing tape, mail a letter, deposit some money into my HSBC-UK account and pack a few more boxes. Around 3pm Rob showed up to help move the boxes into storage as I've some how thrown my back out not even doing anything - it started while we were in Paris :( Luckily I still had access to the box that had the Advil in it, course I don't feel any difference, but I'm ever hopeful!!
Rob, Jim, Dad & I went for afternoon drinks at the pub then they buggered off home. Rob to meet his new flatmate & Jim to shower, since he'd been on earlies today (6am - 2pm)
Tonight we have dinner with Jim at some place in Angel, forgotten the name, but don't tell dad cause he'll be upset that I didn't write it down, I remember the general area it is in & the name is something like, "_____ & Piano" just past The WalkAbout, how hard can it be to find???
Photos
Here are some photos from a few weeks ago when my sister went up to Schroon Lake for the seagull Colony Gala & her old roommate/best friend, Kate's wedding. Absolutely bugger all exciting to report today, tried to call my sis (05.50 her time) but she didn't answer :( I'm gonna try to pack a few more boxes today & have a bit of a rest, my back is acting up again (like it did last year before I moved . . . thinking it's combo of stress & lifting boxes & moving) just hoping it doesn't get as bad as it was last year b/c that took drugs from the Chestertown Health Center to fix & since I have no health insurance & no doctor, I'm a bit screwed! Happy Sunday & again, "Happy Birthday ya old git" (can you guess whos expression that is?)
Happy 27th Birthday Pattio!!!!!!!!
WOW, you're in your late 20s now!!! Do you feel old????Happy Birthday to you,Happy Birthday to you,Happy Birthday lil sis,Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!!!!!Well it's midnight here & I wanted to be the FIRST to wish you a happy birthday!!See you soon!LoveRa xx(and Dad too)
YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!!!!!
3-0 ain't too shabby, if you ask me :) To those recovering from surgery, I'm still thinking about ya, sending get well as fast as possible wishes & hoping that you're not in too too much pain, been there done that, but seem to have lost the t-shirt ;) Had drinks with Jim last night & he says hello & feel better & he's hoping to make it to the states in the next 2 years & says you owe him a drink or two (ya know from that night last fall when I called and wished you & only you where here!!!) Will call you later this week, when you're more up for chatting. Good to IM with you briefly XXOO (times 5 of course)Today I went to a "pick your own" place with Miss Katie Brennan. We picked broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, potatoes, beans, apples, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries. It was fantastic, weather was in the high 70s, sun was shining & I was able to get a few bits & bobs for presents to for Patty (tomorrow) & Auntie Ann's (October) birthday.Well must get to bed soon, more packing tomorrow . . . Tarra!
bonjour
arrived safely in paris, in internet cafe with strangest keyboard, thinking itmight be international or something, will be in touch, off to check out the city centre, love ra & dad
Dinner with the Smurfs
Well not really the smurfs, but dad & I did have dinner with Dermot J. Smurfit, of the Smurfit Paper company tonight.We started the day with the Thames Festival with Rob, then met up with Jim for drinks at the Camden Tup, then over to meet Dermot at this house on the edge of Regents Park. Really FANTASTIC house, 7 children, nice wife, but to be honest boring conversation . . . all about buying and selling this business & that business, I couldn't keep up!! Luckily dad could keep his own since they went to Harvard Business School together back in 1984. Well I hear dad starting to snore so I should get offline so he can check his email & get to bed. Tomorrow at noon we leave Waterloo station on the Eurostar heading to Paris :)Be in touch soon, Tarra!!
Avebury
I don't have much time to type right now & I have not yet gotten the photos off my computer, but I wanted to let ya'll know that my mate from uni, Sohel, and I took the bus up to Oxford yesterday where Beth & Terry met us & took us to lunch at the Grand Cafe (on the High Street) then out to Avebury for the afternoon and then to a cute little pub called The White Horse. It was a fantastic day! Will write more about it later & add photos, might try to do a slide show since that seems to be faster and easier these days. Off to Paris tomorrow (Monday to Thursday) so don't expect to see any posts this week, as I doubt we will stop at cyber cafes. Tarra :)Update:
So there are the photos for your enjoyment.
PASSED with flying colours
It's official, I'VE PASSED MY MASTERS :) :) :) :)
where have you been?
create your personalized map of europeor check out our
Barcelona travel guide
create your own personalized map of the USAor check out our
California travel guide
create your own visited country mapor check our
Venice travel guideI feel I need to travel a bit since I have signifcant gaps in my world travel map!!!! Taking destination ideas and money donations :)
Not too exciting but . . .
Yesterday I woke up at my normal "I don't have anything to do today" time (09.30), showered, had a quick breakfast & headed out to get my hair cut, came back to the flat to change my shirt, jumped on the first southbound northern line train that luckily was going via Bank (so I could get to Kings Cross & transfer to the Circle line seeing as Amanda lives in Paddington). Of course on arrival KC tube has announcements about the Circle & District lines having "severe delays" so I went to call Amanda & tell her I might be delayed but then I realised I didn't have my phone, YIKES, how was I ever going to find Amanda's place?!?!?! I caught the first Circle line train & luckily when I arrived at Paddington I was able to recall which way we walked once before when I went to her place.
I helped Amanda pack up all her stuff which took about 2 hours & then we went off to Covent Garden to get presents for her family. But for some reason (probably b/c it's still tourist season over here) the prices were nearly double what she had paid months ago so we dropped that idea and instead got our selves some tea & sat chatting in the center of CG. We decided it was time to go when not just one but two pigeons crapped on our table! There were umbrellas up above the tables even though the whole area is ordered by a ceiling, but ya know it's for aesthetics! So the birds were sitting on the edge of the umbrella, just over our table & you know how the rest goes! From there we went & bought a pocket size guide book to Paris, window shopped for a bit, then went to get a margarita at the good Mexican restaurant, La Perla, just one one of the side streets of CG. At 16.45 we wondered into the Australian Store as it is called, to see what all they had & we discovered Kraft Mac & Cheese, Ruffles Potato Chips, Skippy peanut butter, and a few other items from "home", of course we would discover this days before leaving!!!! From there we made our way to CG tube station to meet up with Doug & Dom.
All 4 of us went to Belgo's for dinner. They have a deal where depending on when you come in for your dinner you pay in £s the time that you eat, so since we ordered at 5.15pm, we paid £5.15. Of course there is a set menu, but listen to the choices: mussels (which I had & were fantastic!!), pastry stuffed with mushrooms in cream sauce (Dom & Doug had this & we all know my yuck factor when it comes to mushrooms & I thought they tasted fantastic!!)pastryry covered in roasted vegetables & topped with grilled goat cheese, or a half chicken with some sort of fancy sauce which I've now forgotten. PLUS you get a half pint of beer, small glass of wine, or a pint of soda with your meal all for just £5.15, how can you beat that!?!?!?!?!?After dinner we went to get coffee & sit outside to chat since it was our last night together :( Amanda flies home EARLY Friday morning and Dom goes home to Eastbourne today and Doug will have to spend his first night in his new flat (which by the way if you stick your head out the window you can see Buckingham palace . . . I like to say he's my mate who lives next to Queen Elizabeth). After hot chocolate & coffees were done we rthoughtgthehte rain to get back to Covent Garden tube station & headed home. I was home by 21.30.Today, Dad & I are off to see a flat up in Muswell Hill & then Dad is heading off to Patrick's for the weekend. Tomorrow Rob & I are off to Kew Gardens (barring rain). Saturday Sohel & I are off to Oxford (to see Beth), Sunday I'm not sure yet, but probably try to hit up the Thames Festival and dad booked dinner with a friend of his in Regents Park (not sure what we will do with Jim, as I made plans with him & now Dad has double booked us) AND Monday we're off to Paris!!!!
More photos I promised . . .
. . . click here for the all Richmond Park & London Eye photos with descriptions as well
Joke to take the piss outta Rob
On a golf tour in Ireland, Tiger Woods drives his BMW into a petrol station in a remote part of the Irish countryside. The pump attendant, who obviously knows nothing about golf and completely unaware of Tiger's identity, greets him in a typical Irish manner.
"Top of the mornin' to ya, sir," says the attendant. Tiger, who is familiar with Irish custom, responds with, "And the rest of the day to you!" He gives a quick nod and bends forward to pick up the nozzle of the gasoline hose. As he does, two golf tees fall out of his shirt pocket onto the ground. "What are those?" asks the attendant. "They're called tees," replies Tiger. "And what on the good earth are they for?" inquires the Irishman. "They're for resting my balls on when I'm driving," says Tiger. "Feckin Jaysus," says the Irishman, "BMW thinks of everything!"
Thoughts
So life in London has been a bit crazy as you have all probably been following but for those who asked for a quick recap here we go . . . the end of school was exciting yet anti-climatic, as I'm sure most are well aware of from their own experiences at the end of the school year.
Compounding that I also had a friend of mine who had been stationed in Afghanistan visiting that last week so it was a bit hectic to say the least but nice to see him & I had 2 of my mates who are police officers in London take him out for the first two nights he was here, so that made it a bit less stressful.
Since then I've been spending most of my time going from goodbye party to goodbye party & trying to get in the last bit of tourist stuff with people who will never be here again. Dad also arrived last Tuesday to spend the month at my flat, visiting friends & helping me pack up. We've also been to check out different neighbourhoods since I will not be able to live where I do now when I get back in November.
Of course coming back in Nov is still a very fluid plan as I have yet to hear about a work permit & so everything sort of hinges on that which makes it very hard to make any sort of concrete decision & makes my stomach be in that constant sort of uneasiness, not panic, just unknown which is never really fun. BUT even with all of that I still love London & hope that this work permit goes through so I can easily come back & find a place for my 2 year post.
Today we checked out the Muswell Hill area, very nice "town" feeling to it & affordable as well. Some will tell you, "you're just paying for the 'village' look", but I rather liked the area, it's got lost of shopping close by, has 24 hour bus access to & from where I will be working & is only about 20 minutes (by bus) north of where I live now, so I can still pop into my local on the way home to visit with my mates there AND Jim & Rob live 20 minutes north of the MH area so they'd be on the same bus as me at night (added bonus).
Tonight Dom & Amanda are coming up to KT & we're having dinner at mine. Just found out that there will probably be a showing of my flat at 6.30/7 so it should be good fun to have the flat smelling of food instead of smoke from the guy downstairs. Will of course have to take down the laundry that has been drying.
Also just found out that Owen (the drunk at my local) touched one of the barmaids on the arse on Friday night, I so wish I'd been there because I would have called Jim & Rob on my mobile, while punching him with my free hand (since I know J&R would back me up 110%). I was a "victim" of Owen once before, luckily for me he was stupid enough to do it to me when I was dating Jim & standing in between both of them, so it took Jim about 2 seconds to figure out it was not him touching me. That resulted in Owen getting a rather harsh "talking to" from Jim. Since that time has basically avoided me because he knows that even withJim & I not dating anymore, that Jim, Rob, & I are super close and he must mind his Ps and Qs, course every once in awhile he forgets when I come in with new people he doesn't know and he feels the need to come over & try to chat me up. I'm also really pissed off at the managers for not immediately kicking him out, but then again the barmaid didn't make a big stink about it either. It just gets me going sometimes cause he's just such a skeeze (sp?) bucket!!!!!!
Okay, dad's getting anxious, he's a bit thirsty & I promised we could go to the pub when I got done with the internet - as if the pub is going anywhere, LOL - Tarra
Photos I've promised but had problems putting up
Photo # 1 in honour of Unk's father Art Rosenkranz (photo taken at Camp Read)
Photo #2 in honour of Art (thanks to PCS for this one!)
my mate Andy on the day our thesis was due
Dom counting "bugs" in our lab
Dom making faces in our lab
Me reading over my thesis in the lab
Dad, Jerry & I went on the London Eye today, I will have the photos later this week, too late to download & post. After leaving the Eye, we walked down the south bank, got an icecream, walked over Waterloo bridge & onto the Queen Mary for a pitcher of Pimms & Lemonade and a pitcher of water since it was 79F today. From the QM, we walked up to Jerry's hotel did a sudoko and then went to Christopher's Steak house for dinner. After dinner dad & I caught a bus up to our theatre to see Blood Brothers with Dom & Amanda. Now we're off to bed . . . Tarra
Richmond Park
So yesterday, Dad & I took the Thameslink from KT to Tooting where Katie & Simon picked us up & drove us to Richmond Park, we walked around for about 2 hours, saw some deer (don't worry I have photos but blogger is not allowing me to upload them), went to The Green Man pub, where their mate is the manager, had a drink & a few munchies, before heading back to Mitchim, touring their flat & then off to a new Italian restaurant within walking distance from their place. Food was really good and the mains were about £5 - AMAZING PRICES!! I introduced dad to Banoffi Pie, he enjoyed it!On our way home we stopped in at my local to have a drink with Rob, Mark, & Jim, but Jim got stuck at work & showed up late after dad had already gone home to bed. Today we're off to check out the London Eye, have dinner with dad's mate Jerry & then meet up with Amanda & Dom to see Blood Brothers, we got CHEAP tickets (£12.50 can you believe that!??!?!)Not much else to report, aside from Wednesday we're going to Kew Gardens with Rob, Dad will be gone Thursday to Sunday so Saturday I'm going to Oxford with Sohel (probably meeting up with Beth), Sunday night we're meeting up with Jim and Monday (a week from today) we're off to Paris :)Sorta sad, Amanda is leaving on Friday, that's the last of my bestmates from uni to leave :( AND recently my mate Zee in Portland hasn't been feeling so well so I'm sending her happy thoughts & hoping she's taking it "one day at a time"!!
We're hoping our mate Susan (who's currently at Wash U) is doing okay, none of us have heard from her in awhile, we're all sending smart doctor thoughts your way Sus!!!!
OH I ALMOST FORGOT:
Happy Birthday RI Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicken Tikka Marsala (Zola Style)
So one of my best friends here in London has an aunt who wrote this so I thought I'd share it with you, even if you have no interest in eating the meal the article before hand is kinda interesting.
It's late so it will have to be a quick update
Well Dad, Jerry & I met up in Camden Town yesterday for a late breakfast followed by a mini tour of the CT market & then the canal tour down to Little Venice. We got off the boat & had some lunch (Magnum ice cream bars - yummers!!) While there I was in touch with Amanda via text messaging, so we decided to meet up at 16.30 at Euston Square Station to go for Bangladeshi food with our mate Sohel. So we grabbed the next boat back to CT, rode the 24 bus down to Gower Street & walked over to the ES tube station, where we met up with Sohel, Amanda & Dom. We then took the Hammersmith & City line over to Whitechapel for dinner. We decided to let Sohel order for all of us, we eat fish native to Bangladesh, lamb curries, chicken curries, nan bread, and 2 types of rice. It was DELISH!!! Jerry had to leave early to make a play, but the rest of us stayed until we were podged, then made our way back into central London to meet up with some of our mates from uni. We all met up at the College Arms around 20.15. We had left over pasta for lunch today followed by a semi lazy yet productive day . . . Dad took a nap while I packed 2 boxes of books and uni notes & emptied out all my desk drawers :) At 15.30 we left for Angel to catch the 16.20 showing of Cars, which was pretty good but not one of the best Pixar movies I've seen. Then we popped into Marks & Spencers for some veg to go with our frozen fish sticks & rice (trying to eat all the food out of my flat before I leave in 3 weeks). After dinner we booked tickets to see Blood Brothers with Amanda & Dom on Monday night along with booking ourselves a mini holiday in Paris (better try to remember some French!!) So we're taking the Eurostar train from Waterloo to Paris Nord & staying at a hotel right across the road. We leave London at 12.09 Monday 18 Sept and return back at 13.56 Thursday 21 Sept. I'm UBER excited about this trip, as I've never been to Paris in my 3 other trips to France, pretty funny ah?!?!?!?Okay it's getting late & I'm bloody knackered, so I'm gonna get some kip, talk to you all soon . . . TarraP.S. Sorry no photos, I keep forgetting my camera :( will try harder this coming week. Tomorrow we're off to Richmond Park or Kew Gardens with Katie & Simon in southern London.
Dad's arrival
So blogger has been acting up all day so hopefully my 3rd go around will work this time. Dad arrived yesterday, 2 hours late, but safely & with all of his luggage, so that was nice :)
Today we went food shopping, flat hunting, checked emails (dad took a nap), made dinner for Louise & Jeremy. Now I'm hoping to post this & head to bed myself as it is 11.30pm!!
Hope all is well on the other side of the pond . . . tarra :)
Brainiac Alkali Metals
this is thanks to Pete, I just thought it was so cool I had to blog it as well!
Labour Day
On Sunday after going to the Spanish Festival for the afternoon with Jeremy, Nick, and Louise, we went to Speakers Corner to see what was being spoken about, then just wondered through the park a bit & found a nice sunny spot to hang out in. Jeremy & Nick practiced their juggling, while Lou & I just enjoyed doing nothing :) On my way back to KT that evening Rob called me to see if I was around since he was going to be in KT for a bit, so I met up with him at the pub. After about an hour I got tired so I went home & went to bed.
Well as you can easily guess it was not Labour Day here yesterday, but I did have the day off so I slept in, showered & was checking emails when Rob called to see if I fancied meeting up for lunch in the city centre, as I had nothing to do I figured it would be nice to get out of the flat for a bit. I met him at Leicester Square at 2.15 and we went to The Texas Embassy for lunch. After that we decided to take a wonder through Green Park, Mr. ADD decided he wanted to go on the millennium wheel (London Eye) so we meandered through the horse guard, past Downing Street, down Whitehall Street, past Big Ben, over the Thames & found out that the queue was 30 minutes and the cost was £11.75, as I said before I was hanging out with Mr ADD so we ditched the Eye in order to check out Kew Gardens. Now for anyone familiar with London, Kew Gardens is not at all close to Westminster (where we were) and what I did not realise was how late it was in the day, but off we trotted over to Westminster tube station to catch the District line out towards Richmond. 2 trains later we got off at Kew Gardens, took a quick peak at a map & off my faithful (but hopeless with directions) mate started down the road. We had walked about 7 minutes down the road when I noticed a sign saying North Road & I was darn sure we were suppose to be on Litchfield instead. Luck for us there was a nice woman walking down the pavement towards us so Rob asked her if we were going in the correct direction, she giggled & said no, you need to go back to the station, go up over the tracks & follow the signs. We turned around with a bit ofembarrassmentt & headed back to the station. Up over the tracks & down into an area covered with signs for Kew Gardens, low & behold the street we wanted as well! Down Litchfield we went observing that most people were going in the opposite direction to us, but that did not stop us, we'd made it all the way down & we were not turning back even if it was 5.15pm. We got to the Victoria Gate at KG only to read a sign that said gates close at 5.30pm. So we peaked through the gates a bit & then headed back to the station once again. This time we got the Silverlink train to Kentish Town West. We walked up to the pub from there & met up with Mark, who neither of us had seen in over a month! It was a nice mini reunion :) When I got home I called my mate Shannon back in the US & was lucky enough to talk to her & Eric. All in all (even with getting lost & never getting to do what we set out to do) it was a good Labour Day!!
annoying things from a friend
1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.... I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my crotch when I ask where the toilet is? 2. People who are willing to get off their arses to search the entire room for the T.V... remote because they refuse to walk to the T.V. and change the channel manually. 3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too". Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it? 4. When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they?5. When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". No Loser, I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor. 6. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?"... Didn't really give me a choice there, did ya sunshine? 7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it, couldn't be new. 8. When people say "life is short". What the hell?? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?
Another star is born
Well I just found out this morning that one of my "family members" passed away yesterday. Now I know most of you are thinking WOW for a girl who has so few biological relatives, she sure has a big family and it is true! My immediate biological family consists of me, my lil sis Patty, mother Mary, father Peter, aunt Ann, and two cousins Tim and Ned. My extended family includes my uncle Curt or as I like to call him "unk" (Curt and my mom are "siblings"), then I have my RI family with RI Mom, RI Dad, and my brother Mike, then there is my CT family with Dad and my two brothers Matt & David. I won't go into it now but if we start to count all the Godparents Patty & I have as aunts & uncles there's a whole slew of about 4 or 5 others to talk about. BUT, back to the point of this blog . . . This morning I got an email from Unk titled "My best friend" and to be completely honest I nearly deleted it before opening because it had an attachment & I worried it was one of those darn forwards which could have a virus in it, but for some reason this morning I decided to risk the chance at a virus & open it up. It was a noticed about his father passing away yesterday while Curt was with him. It made my eyes well up with tears, so I opened up the attachment to read the obituary:C. Arthur Rosenkranz, 96, of Rapid City, South Dakota and formerly of Ossining, New York , died at a local care facility in Rapid City on September 1, 2006.
Arthur was born in Cologne, Germany on June 2, 1910. Orphaned at age 8, he lived with various relatives in the Cologne area until 1926 when he was sponsored by an uncle and immigrated to the United States. At age 16 he attended New York Institute of Applied Agriculture at Farmingdale, Long Island, New York where he graduated with a degree in agriculture. He held many jobs in the New York City area barely surviving the depression. Arthur was united in marriage in 1935 to Mathilda Meta Murken. He held several farm manager positions from Connecticut to Pennsylvania. In 1944 the family moved near the village of Ossining, New York where Arthur managed a poultry farm on the Manheimer estate (Willow Haven Farm). Arthur bought the business in 1948 and continued to run it until August 1957. He then took a position with the Ossining school system as a custodian at which time the family moved into the village residing at 36 Eastern Avenue. In 1960 he accepted the position of head custodian for the new Ann Dorner Middle School, a position he held until his retirement in 1974.
Arthur become a Mason in 1948 joining Radium Lodge # 844 in Ossining. He was Master of that Lodge in 1966 and 1976, and retained his membership in the lodge until his death.
In 1978 Arthur and Mathilda moved to Rapid City, South Dakota to be close to their son and family. During retirement Arthur and Mathilda enjoyed traveling including several trips to Germany and Switzerland and many road trips back east to visit friends.
During his life he was a member of the civil defense as a volunteer firefighter and aircraft spotter (WWII), a Boy Scout leader, Mason and Shriner. In Rapid City he attended Knollwood Heights United Methodist Church.
Mathilda was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 1986, and Arthur was her primary caretaker for the next six years which allowed her a quality of life that would not have been possible otherwise. He will be remembered for the care, concern and helping hand that he gave to neighbors, friends and family even at an advanced age. He was his sonÂs best friend.
As I got to the last line, I started to cry. I remember visiting Art just a few years ago when we were out in South Dakota, what a man he was! He must have been about 3 years ago, making him 93 at the time, but you sure would never have known it! He was living on his own with many visits from Unk & Jean & neighbours. I remember we were about to leave & so I went over to say goodbye, as I leaned in to give him a hug, he squeezed my hand and said, "your beautiful" . . . I ask you, how often do you hear that from someone who isgenuinelyy sincere?I'm gutted that I don't have any of my photos from my trip to SD, but I do have a few photos on my computer which I know he would like, so this sunset from Waubeeka lake at Camp Read & the view of Whiteface (thanks to PCS) arededicatedd to him today! (blogger won't let me put photos in at the moment, will keep trying) We're all going to miss you Art, especially your best friend Curt, my Unk!!Unk, know that Dad & I are there with you in spirit, as we will not be able to get there in time for the funeral. I'm sure once Dad gets here on the 6th, we'll try to give you a ring. Sending you lots of love, hugs & kisses, your niece in London xxoo
Football photos
Just got back from lunch with Danielle we went to an Italian place near Moregate station, since she had to go to physio right after it.
Here are the photos, sorry they're so blurry, hard at night with zoom & the ball is moving fast . . . 
White shirts with blue shorts = England & Orange = Holland
the game was at The Valley, which is CAFC's (Charlton athletics Football Club) stadium
Here is the best shot of the night, that's England's #10 K. Smith just before she gets her hat trick (3rd goal of the night)!!
Tonight I'm off to Heather's place in Queen's Park for dinner at 6pm - not sure what we're having but should be fun :)
Aside from that I've just been looking for flatmates & flats on www.gumtree.com sounds exciting ah?!?!?
Almost forgot, Mindy has new puppies, click here to see the photos, they were born on Wednesday night. UBER CUTE!!!
England 4-0 Holland
That's right folks, England beat Holland 4-0!!! I will have photos tomorrow to post, not sure how good they will be as it was a night game & the girls were moving fast, but you can at least see the funky orange uniforms that Holland has :)Quote sent to me today which made me smile:Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right forget about the ones who don't. Believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance take it. If it changes your life let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it . . . one day!
Tarra ;)
Photo # 1 in honour of Unk's father Art Rosenkranz (photo taken at Camp Read)
Photo #2 in honour of Art (thanks to PCS for this one!)
my mate Andy on the day our thesis was due
Dom counting "bugs" in our lab
Dom making faces in our lab
Me reading over my thesis in the lab
